The present invention generally relates to water coolers. More particularly, the invention relates to the replacement of exterior panels of a water cooler. For example, when the exterior panel of a water cooler becomes damaged or outdated, it may be desirably replaced.
Known methods for replacing the exterior panels of water coolers are time consuming. As one example, when a water cooler is sent to a service center for panel replacement, conventional, previously known water cooler models may have an exterior panel secured to the water cooler wrapper (or cabinet housing) by multiple (e.g., twenty-three (23)) screws. Multiple steps must be taken to replace the panel: removing the liquid dispensing module, bottle ring, and POU float kit; unscrewing the faucets on the front of the cooler; unscrewing four (4) screws from the back of the unit and four (4) screws from the bottom of the unit; taking off the wrapper; unscrewing and removing the twenty-three (23) screws and the rubber seats in order to remove the panels; placing the new panel on the wrapper; screwing back on the twenty-three (23) screws and rubber seats; reassembling the wrapper; screwing back on the four (4) screws from the back and four (4) screws from the bottom of the unit; screwing back in the faucets; and replacing the liquid dispensing module, bottle ring, or POU float kit.
Replacement of the panel of such a conventional water cooler under this method took approximately 15 to 20 minutes to complete. Thus a service person replacing panels on multiple water coolers can expend many hours of valuable labor time on this task. In addition, the above steps of the panel replacement process require many parts of the cooler to be disassembled, which can lead to the potential loss of parts, or error in reassembly.
It would be advantageous to devise a method for renewing a water cooler's exterior panels that is time efficient and less complicated and that uses fewer parts than known methods. It would be also advantageous to provide the water cooler customer with a system that allowed the customer to easily change the exterior of the cooler based on the desired aesthetic. Accordingly, there is a need to renew water cooler exteriors with fewer steps and by removing fewer parts of the water cooler.